COLOCASIA esculenta 'Mojito' Taro

Re: COLOCASIA esculenta 'Mojito' Taro

Sat Dec 09, 2017 2:46 am

This taro is used mostly as an ornamental. It looks to be a wetland taro. All taro will grow well in water if it is well aerated and flowing vs stagnant water. Some taro are adapted to dryland culture but they actually will still grow in water.

Calocasia (taro), alocasia (ape), xanthosoma are all members of the arum family. They differ by where the stem attaches to the leaf and xanthosoma often have the pointed end of the leaf fused to make a cup. Some are ornamental and some are edible. Members of this family have a lot of oxalic acid which makes your throat itchy if it is not cooked to death. Only the varieties that are relatively low in oxalic acid are eaten. Some are good for the corms, while others are mainly grown for the luau or the leaves. Poi taro is very starchy and relatively dry. There are different table taros that you can eat the corms that are moister and have a different flavor than poi. Some taro varieties are grown for the stems. Chinese taro (Bun Long), and Japanese araimo and yama imo are smaller than the taro of Polynesia. Most of the 'elepant ear" varieties are either calocasia, alocasia, or xanthosoma.

Whether dry land or wet land. Taro needs a lot of waterTaro needs to be harvested when the top starts to dry, otherwise the mother corm will rot to feed the keikis.Taro does not grow well in stagnant water. It can be grown in buckets but the water needs to be kept clean.

The Hawaiian grew taro in loi, or man made ponds. Streams were diverted to run through the loi and back to the stream again. The Hawaiians practiced a type of farming where they would move the village once the land was not productive anymore. They would move to another part of the island and cut done the growth and build a new loi and village. Fishing was the same way. The Hawaiians would have a kapu on the fishing grounds and when the catch dwindled, they would put a moratorium on fishing the area for a time until the wild population could rebuild.